MRI 2017 (Women’s) — Group A: Argentina, Hungary, Paraguay and Croatia

Overview:

Argentina

For coach Leticia Brunati, “Argentina’s goal is to continue being the top Pan American team. The draw put us in the most difficult group, but we will give our best to accomplish it. Dreaming is the first step.”

The 2017 Pan American champions believe that the team must go first, instead of any of the individuals, no matter how good they are: “One of our most important qualities is leaving the egocentrism behind.”

On these days, Argentina are working hard trying to improve what Brunati names as their most important weaknesses: the shoot-out definition and the positional attack.

Hungary

“Our minimum aim is to finish among the first three European countries,” says coach Pinizsi Zoltan, as only the best three ranked from the continent will claim a berth for the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games. And he added: “While our intimate desire is to occupy the top of the podium.”

“Our preparation is extremely complex; I believe that we have every opportunity and support to help us achieve our goals. We also try to give our team the most regarding the ideal number of training and training matches.”

They were 5th at the European Qualification Tournament in Nazare, Portugal. But based on their good preparation, their self-confidence has grown:  “It will be a hard task to defeat the Hungarian national team this year. Our opponents will have to present their best”.

Paraguay

This year Paraguay hosted the U17 Beach Handball Pan American Championship and finished 3rd in the women’s category. Nilsa Romero, their trainer, puts a lot of trust on her girls after their strong preparation for the World Championship in Mauritius: “We gained a lot of maturity in our handball. Apart from the offensive creativity and the defencive tenacity, the structured finishings on goal are our most important weapons.”

The South American side will travel to close countries for training camps and will play friendly matches against national teams of older age categories. That is something that motivates Romero: “Paraguay has a courageous team which will set people talking.”

Croatia

“The Olympic Games are something that every athlete dreams of, so it would be an honour to be a part of them, especially for our young players. Beach handball will have its debut at the Youth Olympic Games in 2018 and if we qualify, we would be writing history,” states Croatia coach Iva Kanjugovic.

The Croatians were sixth at the 2016 European Championship in Nazare, Portugal from 8-10 July. Specialist Ana Malec was Croatia’s top scorer in Nazare with 21 goals, followed by line player Nika Vojnovic who scored 19. For trainer Kanjugovic, their “strongest spots are the team spirit and togetherness our girls have. They are all good friends; they support each other and can trust each other. It is important how they rise from bad to good moments, from match to match.”

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